Files that US National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden gave to the Auckland-based New Zealand Herald revealed that New Zealand's intelligence organs have been instructed to spy on around 20 countries around the globe, including Asian countries such as China, Japan, North Korea and Iran, and to share this intelligence with its Five Eyes allies, the US, the UK, Australia and Canada, according to the website of China's Communist Party mmouthpiece, the People's Daily.
Around 20 countries and regions, including many of the country's major trade partners, were being spied on by New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), who installed listening posts hidden in embassies and other strategic locations and infected computer systems and phone networks of target countries with malware, according to the paper.
The documents, dating from April 2013 and released March 11 by the New Zealand newspaper in collaboration with US online news organization The Intercept, have emerged at the same time that the Wikipedia Foundation, along with a group of human rights advocacy organizations, including Amnesty International, are suing the NSA for its Dragnet online surveillance program, stating that the program is in violation of the US constitution, particularly in regard to the stifling of freedom of speech and privacy violations. Wikipedia said that it hopes the suit will bring an end to what it sees as illegal behavior.
Read the full story at Want China Times